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At different times of Europe's history the quality of penmanship has varied considerably. During the [[Roman Empire]] standards were high and quality writing implements and materials easy to come by. With the fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the [[Dark Ages]] the quality of handwriting declined markedly. The [[Carolingian period]] saw the development of a standardized script ([[Carolingian minuscule]]) and the era saw a vast improvement in the quality of penmanship. The documents from this period were of such superior quality when compared with the periods before and after that later historians would often describe this period as a [[Carolingian Renaissance]]. The actual [[Renaissance]] saw a rejection of the messier [[Gothic script]]s and a return to those of the classical period, again much easier for historians to read.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in part because [[printing]] replaced most formal communications, handwriting became extremely cramped, small, and difficult to read. The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries saw another revival of clean formalized handwriting. In the early twenty-first century, with the increasing popularity of [[electronic communication]], some note a decline in the quality of penmanship similar to that brought on by the advent of printing. And when handwriting does exist, it tends to be a mixture of cursive and printing; some consider this as evidence of the decline of handwriting instruction
Illegal simulation of handwriting is a frequent occurrence and commonly appears in the legal court system. Extended handwriting and signatures are repeated vicitms of forgery, and are analyzed by a [[questioned document examination|questioned document examiner]].
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